The Displaced Bow and Aphisms: Abstract Physically Informed Synthesis Methods for Composition and Interactive Performance

Physical Modeling has been around for a while and has been used for musical compositions and interactive performance. This paper explores new ways of looking at physical or physically informed synthesis methods in the light of recent developments in the field. In particular, Banded Waveguide Synthesis [1] offers an intersection between spectral modeling and physical modeling that can be abstracted and seen as controlled compositional devices. Also, physical input usually drives interactive performances, which makes physical modeling an appealling synthesis method as the parameters are of this physical nature. This paper explores how abstractions of the synthesis algorithms formed by physical models can yield new and surprising results for composition and performance. The Displaced Bow is introduced as an algorithm for creating richly textured spectra.